The Chancellor has announced a temporary reduction in VAT on children’s meals and children’s entry to certain entertainment venues and attractions. The 5% rate will apply to these items from 25 June until 1 September 2026.
As ever, the devil is in the detail and businesses should be sure that their supplies fall clearly within the guidance before applying the reduced rate.
Children’s meals
These are meals held out for sale only as meals for children by restaurants, cafes, and similar.
The meals must be for consumption on the premises. Takeaway meals do not qualify for the reduced rate.
See HMRC’s guidance for further restrictions on what constitutes a “children’s meal”.
Children’s tickets for theatres and cinemas
The tickets may give entry to:
Cinema screenings
Theatrical performances, shows and concerts
Exhibitions
The tickets must be held out for sale as only admitting children, or if they are family tickets they must include entry for at least one child. The reduced rate applies to the whole price of qualifying family tickets.
Family attractions and soft play centres
The reduced rate applies to entry to qualifying family attractions regardless of age. The attractions must be suitable for families with children.
Qualifying attractions include:
Amusement parks and fairs, water parks and theme parks, however, pay-per-ride attractions do not qualify.
Circuses
Adventure parks, outdoor adventure centres
Museums and similar facilities, heritage sites, nature reserves and botanical gardens
Zoos, aquariums, wildlife parks and farm visitor centres
Soft play and other indoor play centres
Viewing platforms, towers, wheels and similar.
Season tickets, or multi-entry tickets that give entry outside the period from 25 June to 31 August 2026 are not eligible for relief unless there is no additional charge for the season ticket or multi-entry ticket beyond the price of entry during the qualifying period.
Exclusion
Sports events and facilities are specifically excluded from the relief.
If in doubt about whether your services qualify for the temporary VAT rate please take advice.